The UNH men’s basketball came into their first ever Northeast-10 Championship game a team on fire. They had beaten their previous two opponents by an average of over 22 points; however, they were facing Southern Connecticut State University, who they had lost to twice this season already.
The game began with SCSU taking an 18-10 lead early on, but UNH would not go away. Through grit and grinding they would slowly eat at the lead until they finally led for the first time since the 17:24 mark of the first half.
After some back and forth play with both sides holding the lead for short periods of time, Southern would have the final possession of the first half after a pair of made free throws by Ashanti DePass. Jeff Atkins would stop Tylon Smith from driving to the rim after he killed the clock down to about six seconds left. Tylon kicked it out to Greg Langston who found himself across from two-time NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year, Eric Anderson. Langston was forced to back it out to 30 feet from the rim and throw up a prayer that would fall short, leaving the score at halftime 36-35 Southern.
In the first half the Chargers would out rebound Southern 23-19 in the first half, as their play on the defensive glass would be the reason why they would come back down eight. However their poor shooting is the reason why Southern was able to keep pace with them, the Chargers as a team shot 39% in the first half from the floor, and a poor one of eight from three point range.
The second half would begin with both Chargers and Owls fans trying to out-shout each other. In a game with the crowd being the way they were, momentum can easily change and the crowd can play a huge factor in that.
Later in the second half the Chargers would be up seven with just under nine to play but that is when things would get interesting. Southern would score six unanswered and cut the lead two only one. UNH’s Justin Exum would make a layup to give the Chargers a three point lead but Owl’s DeShawn Murphy would hit a three pinter after a tough Luke Houston offensive rebound over the much taller Eric Anderson and Cyrus James to tie the game at 60 apiece. The back and forth play would continue with the two more ties before the end of the game. The final tie would come with 1:48 remaining in the game. Cyrus James would make a layup on the next Charger possession giving UNH a two-point lead.
On the next possession, Owl Luke Houston would hit a three pointer to give Southern a one point lead. Jeff Adkins would score a layup with 46 seconds left in the game to give the Chargers a one-point lead. DeShawn Murphy would miss a three pointer with 34 seconds remaining. However, UNH would let the rebound slip through their hands as well a chance to seal the victory. Tylon Smith would grab the ball and pass it to NE10 Player of the Year Greg Langston. He would size up his defender one on one and off the dribble pull up from three. As the ball would soar through the air, Moore Field House would go quite for the first time all day. That silence would be broken by the swish of the ball going through the net as he drained the go ahead shot with six seconds left in the ball game.
The Chargers, out of time-outs, would inbound the pass to Jeff Adkins. The senior would drive down the court himself and put up a shot through traffic. Before that shot he was shooting ten of thirteen in the game but could not make an eleventh shot as the Chargers would fall by a final score of 73-71 and lose all three games against the Owls they would play this season.
